Dome Displays for Educational Games and Activities in the Museum and on the Road

  • Authors:
  • Kerry Handron;Jeffrey Jacobson

  • Affiliations:
  • Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, USA PA 15213;PublicVR, Jamaica Plain, USA 02130

  • Venue:
  • ICEC '08 Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Entertainment Computing
  • Year:
  • 2008

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Abstract

The immersive Earth Theater at Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) uses CaveUT and the Unreal Engine for real time virtual tours as part of public and educational programming. Research conducted comparing the theater with desktop displays shows immersion is a powerful tool, helping people create more connections. Content builds on the museum's strengths and includes dinosaurs, an Egyptian temple and a Seneca village. CMNH has tremendous expertise in traditional tours, combining skills of storytelling, communication, leading group dynamics, timing and humor to convey and contextualize the topics. This background is just as critical to great virtual tours as the beautiful, complex and natural graphics.